chief white house correspondent ed henry looks in to that tonight. >> reporter: pulling on the heart strings as if he were back on the campaign trail, president obama visited middle class family in virginia. >> a couple of thousand dollars means a couple months' rent for this family. >> once again, he was trying to frame the battle oaf the fiscal cliff as being all about taxes. with no mention of spending cuts. >> i'm not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rates from going up for folks at the top 2%. but i do remain optimistic that we can get something done that is good for families like this one. that is good for the american economy. >> republicans believe the reason the president is going light on spending cuts and demanding the budget deal include another increase in the nation's debt ceiling is clear. >> this isn't about getting a handle on the deficits or debt for him. it's about spending even more than he already has. >> white house aides reject republican claims that holding the debt limit over the president head is the only mechanism to get him to trim s